She Crab Soup appears as a signature dish in 1 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
She-crab soup · Charleston
A rich blue-crab bisque thickened with cream and finished with a splash of sherry, traditionally made with the orange roe of female crabs.
She-crab soup is a Charleston invention attributed to William Deas, butler and chef to Mayor R. Goodwyn Rhett, who reportedly enriched a simple crab stew with crab roe to impress President William Howard Taft on a visit in 1909. The dish lifted Charleston's reputation as a coastal kitchen city and remains the menu opener at nearly every Lowcountry dining room. Restrictions on female crab harvesting now mean most kitchens use crab roe sparingly or substitute with crab stock and cream; the dish is named for the original technique rather than today's recipe.
Where to eat in Charleston:
- Poogan's Porch
- 82 Queen
- Slightly North of Broad
- Hyman's Seafood